Monday, February 11, 2008

Hope Steffey: "Rape without Penetration."

Hope Steffey's night started with a call to police for help. It ended with her face down, naked, and sobbing on a jail cell floor. Now, the sheriff's deputies from Stark County, Ohio who allegedly used excessive force during a strip search 15 months ago face a federal lawsuit, and recently released video won’t help their case.

Steffey's ordeal with the Stark County sheriff's deputies began after her cousin called 9-1-1 claiming Steffey had been assaulted by another one of their cousins. When a Stark County police officer arrived, he asked to see Steffey's driver's license. But instead of handing over her own ID, she mistakenly turned over her dead sister's license, which she contends she keeps in her wallet as a memento. That's when the situation became complicated.

"Hope was not treated as a victim," her lawyer told WKYC News. "The officer said to her 'shut up about your dead sister.'"

Hope Steffey summed up her ordeal at the hands of Stark County deputies and correctional personnel as "rape without penetration." I'm not sure I'd be that charitable in my description. I believe "terrorism" might not be an inappropriate description of the behavior and it's effect.

And certainly, well, if the deputies were trying to "send a message" - well, they surely got my attention.

The thing that amazes me most is that the sheriff responsible for the actions of the people in this video is defending them - even though the tape is a record of a direct violation of policy that makes it an actionable offense (she IS suing) as well as, arguably, a sexual assault and a violation of her Civil Rights.

Of course, the irony involved here is that the practice of videotaping was started in order to forestall suits by prisoners intended to harass and intimidate police and guards. I would presume every uniformed individual in that room knows exactly why that camera is rolling - and that would include the dude with the camera.

So, if you are doing something you know to be "off book," something you KNOW to be against policy, why are you not making sure that camera "malfunctions?"

Everyone in that room should be looking for work, and if the official charges are the ones that most concern me, the sheriff should be at least a little concerned about how his employees care so little about his personal culpability in this matter. Now, in every situation I've ever been in that's at all similar, putting your boss in an embarrassing position like that will likely cost them time, money and maybe even their job is not the way to a brilliant and shining future in the career of one's choice.

When you're finished watching the video of the strip search, go ask your favorite candidate of "hope" and "change" and all those other lies just exactly what he or she is going to do to end this rising nightmare of an authoritarian state.

No, seriously. Don't find some reason why your choice for Heir to Empire is not responsible. He or she is. They all want to lead this country? Then let them explain precisely how they plan to lead it away from this mess.

Ask those Democrats and Republicans running for office when enough will be enough. Ask them when they plan to stop spewing their sweet little nothings. Ask them if they will vow to their very God or perhaps even to that piece of paper we call the Constitution of the United States of America to take upon themselves the enormous task of putting every monster of this spreading blackness of sovereign violence-from George W. Bush and Dick V. Cheney all the way down to the very last, badge-wearing jackboot on the beat-into prison to rot.

Well, between Pam, the Digger and the Wraith, I'm reduced to nodding my head violently.

But I do have a suggestion for your next town council or civilian/police co-ordination event. Ask your police chief or sheriff to comment on how exactly they feel about this, what procedures they have in place to prevent such incidents, and what, exactly, would they do to officers under their command stupid enough to be captured in the commission of such acts?

Aside from all of this, one wonders what the allegations of "probable cause" will be that would necessitate such a search in such a manner, what procedural necessity would not permit her clothing but would permit her flammables substances such as toilet paper? If she was arguably so dangerous or so obviously suicidal, why was she not placed in six point restraints and transferred to a competent, secure facility for observation?

There are so many, so very reasonable, so very innocent-seeming questions that leap to mind, based on my own rather superficial knowledge of the law and law-enforcement that it is rather easy to understand the aura of smug complacency on the part of the lawyer:

"And you have to ask yourself, what was the purpose of the strip search?" said Steffey's lawyer. "What was the necessity of it? This was a disorderly conduct claim."

The lawsuit says that Steffey remained in the cell for six hours and wrapped herself in toilet paper to stay warm. During that time, she was not allowed to use a phone or seek medical assistance for injuries she accrued that night, including a cracked tooth, bulging disc, and bruises.

You really have to view the tape to get the full impact of the lawyer's silky tones here - the subtext is "Oh, and what IS 40% of your current net worth and future earnings, anyhow?"

His amusement must well be compounded by the suspicion that there are any number of other violations, crimes and cover-ups waiting to reveal themselves. ...I mean, if they haven't already sought his representation.

25 comments:

Anonymous
said...

There's nothing wrong with this.

1. Cop goes to scene. Family squabble. People drinking. Conflicting stories about who hit who first and why. Typical Jerry Springer + COPS crap. Best thing to do is arrest someone and end the argument. Otherwise, it's going to go on all night. Cop decides to arrest the one who gave him the wrong ID.

2. At jail, Sheriff has a responsibility to make sure no one sneaks drugs/weapons into jail. Sheriff also has a responsibility to protect inmates from their own self-destructive urges. She gave an unclear answer about that, so now it's time to search her.

3. Women commonly hide things in their vaginas, because of the mistaken belief that the police either won't or can't search there. Thus, this is going to be a strip search.

4. Female deputies available, but not enough to hold her down AND search her. The search can't wait, so male deputies join in the "holding down" part.

Thank you for so well illustrating the sort of authoritarian thinking that can lead down the primrose path to an appearance on 60 Minutes.

1: "Best thing" is not to arrest someone. Best thing is to sort out the problem and calm everyone down. If the job bores you or is beyond your capacity, consider McDonalds.

And from the stupid idea that the cops are there to impose a resolution by force, without regard to the situation or common sense, it all proceeds downhill from there, in like manner, with the perps in the drama so sure they are the good guys they videotape it.

Boy, had this woman been arrested for anything significant, and I were a defense attourny, I bet I could turn this tape into reasonable doubt in about half a minute.

If they don't think this is abuse, if the idea that others might reasonably consider it unprofessional and abusive, what might they have done that they would naturally choose to hide?

By the way, you stupid authoritarian apologist, in no way does any of that justify the fact that she was injured and refused both treatment and clothing.

The comment by anonymous above is repeated verbatim from a post on another blog. I don't know if anonymous saw fit to repost here, or if they are someone else who thought the other post was the perfect response to the story.

I answered it point by point on the other blog, so I won't repeat that here.

But consider something...let's make some assumptions for argument's sake. All of these have been disputed, but just assume for a moment that they are true:

1. For whatever reason, emotional upset, drinking, reaction to injuries sustained in the assault, Hope Steffey was so out of control when being interviewed as a victim that she committed Disorderly Conduct.

2. Once at the jail, she responded to questions in a way that could reasonably be interpreted that she was suicidal.

3. When told that due to her suicidal status, she must exchange all her clothing for safe jail-issued clothing, she refused.

Now, given all that, given the need to forcibly change her into safe clothing, was there any reason for two males to be present in addition to the FIVE female officers? Was there any reason that none of the female officers tried to reassure her that they were only removing her clothing to change her into safer garb? Was there are reason to keep her stark naked in her cell without even a blanket or a paper dress for six hours? Was there any reason for her to go to her arraignment nude except for a vest on her torso?

Oh, procedure was followed, I'll give you that. It is shameful, however, that the procedure in Stark County for dealing with POTENTIALLY suicidal inmates includes neither compassion nor simple human dignity.

There is no date on these postings, but the article was posted at Digg this February.

The first post by Anonymous, #1 is pure speculation, but his guess is probably closest to the truth. I would not assume that the woman gave the "wrong" ID, I would assume, or speculate, given her behavior after arriving at the jail, that she deliberately presented FALSE ID. #2 is correct, as well as #'s 4 thru 8, but #3 is completely wrong. This guy probably got his info from COPS.

Women do not "commonly hide things in their vaginas" but female drug addicts with a criminal history do. A body cavity search can only be performed by a doctor, not a police officer or a correctional officer, EVER, PERIOD!

A strip search would never be performed on any arrestee for a misdemeanor charge, when that person will not be held any longer than it takes to book and process them, or for them to sober up so they can be released.

Her clothes were taken from her because she claimed to be suicidal and then refused to remove them herself.

Um, a bust for deliberately presenting false ID would have made this whole thing somewhat less controversial - although in my mind, presenting fake ID hardly excuses the videotape record of her treatment. Clearly they didn't think a judge or jury would take it all that seriously.

Personally, I think it was pure abuse - and is very probably also SOP at that particular cop-shop.

I know, I know, we all want to be reasonable, fair and balanced. But in this case, the evidence in hand, created by the offenders themselves, completely outweighs ANY misbehavior on the part of the victim that might have "justified" such behavior.

Even if, I submit, she had crack stuffed in every orifice and a shank taped to the bottom of her foot. Even then, there is procedure to be followed that ensures minimum risk to all concerned.

I know personally that if I'd been dog-piled like that, someone other than me would be on disability or worse, simply as a result of a panic reaction.

Of course, I'm not likely to find myself in that sort of situation anyway. I treat cops just like I would pit-bulls. I make sure I don't set them off with inappropriate body language or do anything that might confuse them.

Let's start with...this incident happened in October 2006. Ms. Steffy lost a jury trial on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest on June 8, 2007. She appealed. She voluntarily dismissed her appeal October 2, 2007.There must be more on this video that the news is not showing.

1. Lack of money2. Threats from police.3. Threats from the internet.4. Sick of all the crap.5. Feeling one had made one's point.6. Advice of Council.7. Family.

Etc.

My question - a broad one, aimed at my readers - is simple: What "unseen" thing could justify what you have seen?

Look, my fellow Americans; you have a voyeristic taint to your souls regarding stories such as this, and you insist upon your "right" to pry into the lives of strangers to judge whether they "deserve" what's coming to them, and often to pre-try them before a court even gets a chance.

Well, ok, then. Suppose for a moment that's a citizenship duty as opposed to being a damn intrusive violation of rights.

Don't you think that if you insist on weighing the evidence, you should actually do it well, to the standards expected of a jury?

What I'm saying is, a jury saw the entire video and convicted her. It would appear that if they had only seen the parts of the video that were shown on the news they would have had to aquit her. I can't imagine that the jury was packed with blind and stupid people. There's got to be more...It also amazes me that you are so quick to question the government and authority but nothing else.

devilous1 The jury did NOT see ANY of this video. The sheriff did NOT voluntarily give Steffy's lawyers this video for the civil suit, they had to go back and file specifically for it.

QUOTE: "The 16-page complaint notes in the fifth claim for relief that the sheriff produced thousands of pages of requested records, but “specifically failed to produce the videotape of the strip search.”

THEN WKYC News got a hold of the jail building video.The building video CLEARLY shows Steffy being taped, while what looks to be the whole night shift, (4 men & 4 women) parade her down the hall. I guess the Sheriff’s web page that calls this a ‘unpleasant’ duty for his officers, doesn’t realize they have made a spectator sport out of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRhyiXJ91CQ&feature=related

Then we have 4 more women come forward claiming abuse at Stark County jail:http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=84243&provider=gnews

The fifth woman actually WORKS in a correctional facility, so she knows how the 'system' works. Which is why she fears reprisals against her or her family.

This video shows the arresting deputy, of Hope Steffy, Richard T. Gurlea Jr was NOT recommended to be hired. But the sheriff hired him anyway.

Also the sheriff accuses the news of just showing parts of the video, when the news denies this, he THEN admits that he doesn't know what video they have.

http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?sid=82866&aid=54225

One can only suspect that if this video was this bad the rest would certainly put them in jail for a long time.

So the news asks for ALL video & audio that the sheriff's dept has.

Heres a link to Steffy’s lawsuit in PDF format. http://pamelahennessy.com/steffey.pdf

I see the state AG is having problems of his own with sexual charges.

Can we expect a fair investigation of Hope Steffy's case, when the investigator seems to be part of the problem??

I also know probably what the state AG is up to. They are holding off on the investigation, until the settlement.

Which is supposed to be sometime this month.

Then more than likely, the settlement will include stuff to kill the rest of the investigation.

An official I called at the sheriff's dept claims this will not happen. That everything will come out after the state investigation is complete.

I been around the block a couple times and I didn't just get off the banana boat.

I'm calling BS on this, if I'm wrong, so be it. But I think they will quietly try to bury this in the settlement.

Anyone care to bet me $20?

Just the stuff we know FOR SURE is enough to get these sadists jail time.

You don’t leave a victim without adequate medical care.

You don’t have males on females, let alone EIGHT people to strip a handcuffed woman.

You don't have males (or females) do a 'body cavity' search.(Doc or Nurse ONLY!)

You don’t leave them naked, without at least a paper covering.

You don’t take them to be booked naked, with just a vest.

This has nothing to do with them thinking she was suicidal, it was almost CERTAINLY done to humiliate, embarrass, degrade and punish Hope Steffy.

And then there is all the disputed stuff that we have.

That she was attacked by the deputy without just cause, and then charged to cover up his abuse.

That he pulled on her arm to get her ‘to react’ and then made it seem as if she was resisting.

Deputy and jailers claim that she was in physically & verbally abusive, but NO VIDEO shows this.(On the other hand the video DOES back up all of Steffy's claims, so far.)

That the deputy left her in the car, while he talked to someone at the jail. (This alone raises a red flag for me!!)

That she was told she could go home after questions.

That she was NEVER asked to remove her cloths.

That the officers attacked her without warning.

That her tooth & back were injured in the multiple attacks by police.

And then we have all the ‘missing’ video for icing on the cake…….

As of May 5th the sheriff has still NOT turned over all the video.

The saddest part of this whole mess is that all the people who are SUPPOSED to be running things, like the County prosecutor and the Sheriff, who is supposed to be supervising his people, can actually look at this abuse and say that his people did nothing wrong.

Even as every other person who saw this is saying that it WAS an attack against Steffy.

People who include a retired police trainer, a CBS law analyst, and even another Sheriff in a neighboring county!

If Swanson, or any other official, is condoning this type of treatment for misdemeanors & traffic violations, then they are part of the problem, and they ALL need to be gone.

Well the CantonRep paper has posted ALL the strip video, or what they claim to have of it. Unbelievable!http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=433316&r=0&Category=15&subCategoryID=0

Officials at Stark County & the State saying they could see nothing wrong with this video. And a few people on other sites have agreed with them!

BUT just so we’re all on the same page, lets review the video….

First of all, this video STARTS after Steffy is already forced down on the bunk. The camera operator tells investigators she doesn’t know WHY the whole recording isn’t there. And the piece that is “missing” is exactly when Steffy claimed she was never asked to remove her cloths & was assaulted by the staff. No problems with the ‘magic’ camera…RIGHT?

Plus what Swanson & the officials are saying is that not only is it ok for 8 people, men & women to be present, the men are also allowed to remove a woman’s cloths. EVEN if there are enough women there to do it.

And if a woman ‘reacts’ to being stripped by men & women, with spectators also standing there, while being videoed, the men are not ONLY allowed to RESTRAIN her, they are also allowed to pull her arms in submission holds, while yelling for her to “STOP IT”.

And then AFTER she is already stripped naked, its STILL ok for the men to put her in an arm bar submission hold, if she starts screaming while they force her crossed legs against her butt, while waiting to “change a mat”.

And its also ok for the camera, which is supposed to be on the prisoner at ALL times, to deliberately swing away so you can’t tell what they are doing to her. No problem here too RIGHT?

===== Yeah, just having a couple men TWICE her size, and a couple women, JUST restraining her isn’t enough, if she doesn’t cooperate, they can also TORTURE her into SUBMISSION. =====

And then once they leave, these “professionals” can have a good laugh…I guess they didn’t realize the camera was STILL running.

There is more to this story. After 5-6 MONTHS of waiting I finally got more info. Heres a Cut & Past I have been using to get the information out:

This is the BCI report that Agent Christy S. Palmer sent to John D. Ferrero, Prosecuting Attorney Stark County Ohio.Dated April 16, 2008 BCI Case #: SI-76-08-14-0147

This is part of page 3

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y39...BCI-Report.jpg

Sheriff Swanson has ALWAYS maintained that Steffey was ASKED & REFUSED to remove her cloths. But here’s the BCI’s OWN REPORT that PROVES this is a LIE!

But apparently catching the sheriff's dept in a lie isn't a big deal to our "independent" BCI investigator, Christy Palmer, who seems ready to accept ANY excuse the sheriff's dept wants to use.

The report also goes on to say that they lowered Steffey in a slow controlled manner to the floor. Except that Steffey says she was thrown to the floor. She also told her husband in a phone call that she thought the cops had broken her nose. And she was treated by the nurse for the injury.And in page 4 of this report Christy Palmer even states that Steffey reported that her nose was making "crunching noises".

So I guess this is proof of a second LIE!

And still Christy Palmer, the "independent investigator" doesn’t think twice about accepting the word of the cops over the VICTIMS in spite of proof.BTW, Christy also references a video that she says “proves that she was lowered in a slow controlled manner to the floor”. As far as I know, THIS would have to be on the 'non-existent' beginning of the strip video.On May 5th when I asked about the "missing" video, I was told it would soon be released.Now here again it looks as though it’s referenced...even though they NOW claim it does not exist.Interesting. (I have filed a request for this video.)

This isn’t so much an investigation report as it is a smear campaign against Hope Steffey.

They are trying to say that Steffey was resisting enough that EIGHT people couldn't take the chance of ASKING her to remove her cloths, or EVEN TELL HER WHAT WAS GOING ON!!!What a crock!!

I did NOT see any resisting in the video, I saw eight cops parading her to the cell, with her in cuffs.

In fact EVERY video I have seen she is in cuffs!And the ONLY times I have seen her react to the cops is after they have assaulted her or in the process of stripping her naked.

The cops can polish this turd as much as want, this STILL STINKS!

BTW I don't know why they bothered to black out the names of Nurse Coren Lennon and the jail psychologist Thomas Anuszkiewicz, aren't they PROUD of the work they do?

There have been some other things in the news that sometimes seem confusing, maybe this will help clear some of that up:

At her trial it was brought up that she 'slipped a cuff', the arresting officer testified at her trial that she TOLD HIM ABOUT IT, and was NOT trying to escape.She was suffering from a concussion and she was sick to her stomach with her hands forced behind her.

Same as her dead sisters license, the officer also testified that she was NOT trying to pass herself off as her dead sister with a PHOTO ID.So maybe 'speculation' on this issue will finally die.

The cop also had a body mic & remote for his cruiser video, when asked WHY he didn't turn it on BEFORE assaulting Steffey, he testified in court that he "didn't feel the need" to do so.I asked the sheriff's dept if thats the way taxpayer supplied cameras are supposed to be used. They said it "All depends". I said you don't have a written policy for when the cameras should be turned on? They said Yes, do you want a copy?I said yes, send it to me. (Thats been like July of 2008, na da so far.)

Then we have the papers reports that there was "confusion" about who the victim was....this is SO lame!

First was have Steffey's cousin ON TAPE telling them they have to know she's the victim.

Second we have all the witnesses telling the cop Steffey was the victim.

Third we had the testimony of the cop HIMSELF saying that he went to his car to document Steffey's injuries.

Forth the guy that actually called 911 was Steffey's nephew, the brother of the 6 month pregnant niece that attacked her. (This niece also testified that she had been drinking also.)

HE CALLED THE COPS ON HIS OWN SISTER!!!!

Does this seem "confusing" to any of you?

Also Steffey's cousin told the niece that SHE had called the cops, so she wouldn't get mad at her brother. She testified that the niece then threatened her.

BTW this nephew was NOT at Steffey's trial, he took off back to another state where he lived. (I guess maybe he didn't want to have to testify against his sister.)

WOW, puts a little bit of a different slant on what you have heard maybe huh??

Here’s the cops taking Steffey to the cell to strip her naked. This shows what was going on outside in the hallway.

The quality of the video is pretty bad. It will seem to 'skip' frames for quite a while in some places, but then take a bunch in a row at other times. Why it does this, I don't know. All the cameras at the sheriff's dept seem to be in bad shape and "malfunction" right at critical moments.

I had to cut this video in half, it was 20 minutes long, from the time they took her in to the time they left the hall in front of her cell. So I cut off the front of it when they took her in.Heres a link to the whole thing that should be good for a while:http://rapidshare.com/files/232400098/Production_Done.wmv

WHY does it take 20 minutes outside the hall to show a "suicide prevention" that only took 4 min?

The building camera, seems to skip a lot of frames, so you'd think it would be a shorter video.

But as you can see after they have closed up the cell after assaulting her, they all stand around and have a good laugh, so this will add some more time to the video.

As you can see from the video the big dufass in the white shirt, he stays at the door to the cell looking in all the time Steffey was being assaulted, and then he stays back around her cell afterwards, looking in....GEE, I wonder WHY? Then afterwards he's joined by another officer who didn't get a chance to help strip Steffey and he starts walking down to have a look too.

WHY DON'T THEY JUST SELL TICKETS?!?!?!?

BUT THEN the camera seems to malfunction, and the next thing you see is a empty hall. BUT only ONE second has passed on the time marks!WOW, .....MORE "missing" video from Stark County Sheriff's Dept.

LINKS TO HOPE STEFFEY VIDEOSSteffey when she first arrives at the jail, she has had her hands cuffed behind her for an hour now, but the officers claim SHE was abusive, look & learn:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEhyDgQojKs

Here’s another quick video of Hope Steffey, the police are parading her down to booking.

They allege that she was physically abusive, and resisted ALL THE WAY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NHna2IAelw

This is when they take Steffey in to book her.

Don't see ANY proof of ANY of the cops allegations of "physical abuse" from Steffey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMgsI136nJg

Ok here’s Hope Steffey being taken from booking to be stripped naked at the cell.

ALSO if you look at the time line, they walked in...and back out...and 55 SECONDS had passed!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1F5iP2dORw

This is when Steffey is taken from booking back down through this area, on the way to the cell where they strip her.

I am not sure what time stamp they are using the video has two of them. According to the BCI investigator, she was "interviewed" by the nurse around 21:22 Hours, which would have been just before this segment of video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqyagMIyxqQ

And here’s Steffey being taken to the cell to be stripped.

As you can see the woman has the camera up and pointed, and the LED screen is on, but no one knows WHY the camera video is "missing" the beginning.

And this would be exactly when Steffey claims she had her legs knocked out from under her and her nose smashed into the floor.

BUT THEN this magic camera repairs itself JUST as they force Steffey to the bunk to strip her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51k9lukwghc

Here’s the cops taking Steffey to the cell to strip her naked. But as you can see after they have closed up the cell after assaulting her, they immediately open her cell again, and some of them enter. The rest of them all stand around and have a good laugh.

As you can see from the video the big dufass in the white shirt, he stays at the door to the cell looking in all the time Steffey was being assaulted, then afterwards he's joined by another officer who didn't get a chance to help strip Steffey and he starts walking down to have a look too.

BUT THEN the camera seems to malfunction, and the next thing you see is a empty hall.If you see the time listed, the guys disappear in the same time frame!!WOW, .....MORE "missing" video from Stark County Sheriff's Dept.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgmyQvB3XSQ

Heres the full video of Steffeys "suicide precaution", or what the sheriff claims to have of it, the beginning is STILL "missing".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5hf-aDEAr8

AGAIN here is yet another video of Hope Steffey, the crime VICTIM, being taken from her cell.

She is AGAIN trussed up in cuffs and barefoot. It looks as though having trumped up charges like disorderly conduct and resisting arrest gets you treated like a murderer!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5iblieALyE

Here’s another video of Hope Steffey being taken to a different area, while on her way to get booked again, they seem to stop so she is given some type of footwear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25y5ooY7X2c

Here’s Hope Steffey being brought in, after she's been stripped, to get booked. AGAIN of course she is still in cuffs.

The video was then edited to show her about 35 minutes later coming back out from getting booked.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_4M2CMh3jM

Here’s Steffey coming back from getting booked, and getting taken back to her cell.

In cuffs all the way (STILL), and I have still seen NO sign of any "resisting" that the cops are claiming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUDCcL_u6vI

Ok finally Steffey is taken from her cell, with NO cuffs! This is where she is getting released.

Besides the strip video, this is the ONLY time you see her in ANY of the videos without cuffs on and at LEAST two flanking guards.

Well just as I posted over a year ago, they settled out of court. There was NO WAY this was ever going to see a courtroom, otherwise all the cops BS was going to come out in the trial.

QUOTE "So, if you are doing something you know to be "off book," something you KNOW to be against policy, why are you not making sure that camera "malfunctions?"

Well the sheriff has claimed this camera DID malfunction, and is the reason why the beginning of the video is "non-existent".

Except when I called back in May of 2008 the sheriff's dept had claimed that the video would soon be released, a couple weeks later they THEN claimed it was "missing".The only problem with this statement is that the BCI grand jury investigators ALSO mention that same "missing" part of the video in their report to the Stark County Prosecutor's office!!

I have filed a FOIA request to get this "missing" video. (From the sheriff & the State)Nothing so far.

Also if you view the whole video (what they claim to have of it), you will see that the camera also deliberately swings away from Hope after the cops have stripped her naked, and are manipulating her legs around.NO ONE has yet been able to explain WHAT these officers did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5hf-aDEAr8

UPDATE This isn't the ONLY case like this.

Sheila Lozada was arrested on a non-existent warrant and then forcibly disrobed in front of male officers.

The papers, pointedly the CantonRep has removed any links to their stories about Steffey.Maybe because they knew their "Award Winning" story on "What Happened To Hope Steffey" contained outright LIES, that I KNOW for a fact that they KNEW were lies when they printed them!

I have put most of the video I have on YouTube, under Zemo999's videos.There is a video of the settlement news, what there is of it.They still don't want to say what Steffey got.

Here's a link to it:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5T53--pJTo

You can also see the video of the hallway outside her cell. After they close her cell & stop video taping, they IMMEDIATELY open her cell and some re-enter it, while the rest are laughing out in the hall.

In 2007, the last year data was available, the Lucas County Corrections Center housed 26,597 adult inmates and experienced five serious suicide attempts, one inmate escape, 12 inmate-on-inmate assaults, and six inmate-on-staff assaults.

That same year, the numbers were much lower in the Montgomery County jail in Dayton, where 38,750 inmates were housed and there were no suicide attempts or assaults.

Much higher numbers were reported from the Stark County jail in Canton, where 11,761 inmates were housed and where there were 14 serious suicide attempts and 89 inmate-on-inmate assaults.====Montgomery County jail handles THREE TIMES the inmates of Stark County, but they have NO incidents.

So you have to believe that Montgomery County jail gets no ‘trouble making’ inmates, or you have to KNOW that Stark County & others have some serious staff problems.====

UPDATE FINALLY got a key piece of evidence, that put some other pieces in perspective.

I was always puzzled by the news saying that there was "confusion" when the cops arrived.

I'm thinking what "confusion"?? They have everyone there saying that Steffey was the victim, even the female cousin is saying it on video.

Heck even the cop testifies that he went to his car to document Steffey's injuries.And the cops are on tape talking about Steffey's cousin getting arrested the month before for another domestic battery charge, and even her brother mentions her other assault charge when he calls 911 & the cops on his OWN SISTER!

Plus Gurlea has everyone looking for Steffey’s missing hair, and Gurlea is on tape talking to Steffey as if he knows she is the victim, telling her that he will still investigate her assault even though he is arresting her. Plus he also names her as the victim in his radio traffic! So WHY are the papers saying there was "confusion", there is none in the evidence!?!?It didn’t make any sense.

Then Richard T. Gurlea Jr testified under oath that the investigation was never finished, because Steffey was ‘unable to contribute to the investigation’.

HUH?? You mean ANY victim that is knocked unconscious or killed will never have their case solved!?!?! Because Steffey had gone back to the sheriff’s dept 4 days later to file abuse complaints & the assault. So are they trying to say she was STILL unable to “contribute to the investigation’”??This makes no sense at all!

Then the cops got only TWO written witness statements, despite the fact that there were several people there.Again it doesn’t make any sense, especially since the only two statements were from the alleged assailant & her brother, and NO OTHER witnesses.

Then I found the last piece of the puzzle that would make sense of all this...the cops tried to FRAME Steffey for the assault that she had reported!!

Here’s PROOF the cops were actually trying to charge the VICTIM for the crime she was reporting!!

NONE of the papers have EVER reported that Steffey was actually arrested for assault too. But this incident report clearly shows the cops were trying their best to get her charged with the assault too.

It’s all an attempt to cover the cop’s abuse of Steffey, when witnesses said he exploded in a rage at her. They even went so far as to take ONLY TWO written witness statements, and they were from Steffey's attacker & her brother.

The arresting cop, Richard T. Gurlea Jr., testified at Steffey's trial that the 'investigation' into the assault was never finished.

REALLY?!!? Then how do you explain the assault charges against Steffey in the incident report they filled out???

====BTW, just to give you a glimpse of what these people are like.The first evidence I was given was the trial transcript.

I was never billed for that evidence, UNTIL I requested more evidence. Then they billed me for the transcripts & the other evidence, AFTER they had sent it to me.

I sent payment back in a certified check the same day they requested payment.

Now this last request they billed me before they would even send the info!(I also sent a bank certified check back to them the next day for this.)

Its been two weeks and I still haven't seen my stuff and now I have to call and see what the holdup is.

People see me post and wonder WHY I have a burr under my saddle and WHY I find these people so pathetic & criminal.

This is just one small example of WHY.

These people claim they did nothing wrong, but still try at every turn to sleaze their way out of anyone investigating this.